Scientific Management is theory of management that looks at the way we do work. It’s focus is on the economic efficiency and labour productivity which can be measured, developed and adjusted to create the optimum performance environment.  One of the earliest theorists of management was Frederick Winslow Taylor who started the Scientific Management movement in the USA during the 1880’s and 1890’s.  Together with his associates he looked at the actual process of work from a scientific perspective.  They looked at how work was performed and how this affected the workers productivity.  His focus was on optimizing the work environment, and he identified that pushing a worker to work as hard as they could did not always create the best results.

“Scientific Management principles constitute the elements of science and practical skills define its attributes as art.”

Starting as a shop clerk and working his way into a Chief Engineer role, Taylor had hands on experience working in a factory.  His work included the development of four principles of work and management, and the development of planning departments which enabled the worker to have more control over their progress within the company.  His method included a methodical approach which determined the “one best way” to perform a job.  He did this by isolating a group of skilled workers, listing each job operation and the extent of the task being performed and then using a stop watch to measure the time the work took to be completed, thereby coming up with an average time each task took to complete.  Taylor eliminated unnecessary tasks, identified areas of improvement, established fair pay and all workers were trained as to the “one best way” to perform the given task.